Still haven’t received your Rhode Island income-tax refund? One reason may be that your state income-tax return was set aside for review. That’s the point a woman from Charlestown made in a call to MoneyLine:

Q: I am calling to follow up on a question that was in [the June 8] MoneyLine about someone who filed their tax return with the state . . . in February and has not received a refund. We are in the same situation, and I called the taxpayer number that you provided in the paper . . . . I was put on hold for 35 minutes . . . and then I was told that my return did not have any problems with it, that they decided to review it. So I just wanted to let you know that there are, in fact, more people that are having these problems . . . .

–– J.C., Charlestown

A: While visiting the state Division of Taxation in Providence yesterday, I put your question to state Tax Administrator David M. Sullivan. Here’s what he said:

“There are isolated cases . . . where we have certain criteria built into our [computer] system to flag returns for review.”

Why might a return be flagged? State tax officials are typically secretive when it comes to such reasons; they don’t want to tip off potential tax cheats, who may use the information to somehow game the system.

But Sullivan parted the curtain a bit yesterday, saying that a return could be flagged “for unusually high itemized deductions or unusually high credits.”

He declined to provide more detail, but did offer an example:

Suppose the total income you list on your return is $50,000, but your total deductions come to $45,000.

“On its face, it looks like something’s wrong,” Sullivan said. In this example, there’s the suggestion that you have only $5,000 to live on.

So in such a case, the tax agency’s computer system automatically plucks your return out of the normal processing procedure and sets it aside for manual review by a tax official, he said.

Now, it could be that your deductions were higher than usual this time around because, for example, you were carrying over excess charitable contributions from a prior year.

But the computer doesn’t know this. That’s why the return is set aside for review, so that a tax official can determine whether the return can continue to be processed in the usual way, or requires more work –– such as supplemental information.

The process “does slow down the return,” Sullivan said. But the delay is justified, he said. “We want to make sure we’re issuing the correct amount before we issued the refund,” he said.

As for the time you waited on the phone, Sullivan said, “We certainly apologize for the long delay.” There are times during the week when call volume peaks, and although the agency tries to have enough staff cover phones, waits are sometimes long, he said.

Sullivan and Michael F. Canole, chief revenue agent for the Division of Taxation’s personal income-tax section, also reiterated that overall processing is up compared with the same time last year, and so are refunds.

For example, as of June 24, the latest period for which figures are available, the agency had processed 551,613 resident and nonresident personal income-tax returns, Canole said.

Of that total, the agency had issued 392,807 refunds, for a total of about $192.68 million in refunds.

(Other readers should see the June 8 MoneyLine for a list of reasons why the processing of a state income-tax return might be delayed.)

Q: My question is [about] the Rhode Island rebate check: Do they just apply to homeowners, or are automobile owners included?

–– C.M., Cranston

A: Rhode Island’s statewide property-tax relief program is only for those who own or rent a dwelling that is subject to local property tax, Sullivan said.

Houses, condominiums, apartments and mobile homes generally count for program purposes, but automobiles don’t, he said.

If you qualify, you may receive a “rebate” of up to $300. However, the deadline for filing each year is April 15. The program will reopen for applications in January 2009.

TODAY’S TIP: The U.S. Treasury said that, as of yesterday, it has now issued about $78 billion in rebates to about 95 million households.

That represents about 73 percent of the total rebates that the Treasury plans to distribute this year as part of a federal law intended to help stimulate the economy.

Distributions are continuing, based on the last two digits of the first Social Security number listed on your 2007 federal income-tax return. For example:

•If the last two digits are between 64 and 75, your rebate check should have been in the mail yesterday.

•If the last two digits are between 76 and 87, your check should be in the mail by next Friday.

•If the last two digits are between 88 and 99, your check should be in the mail by July 11.

The Treasury plans to continue issuing rebates even after those initial batches are completed. So if you don’t receive your rebate by July 11, it might be included in a subsequent mailing.

Questions about your money matters? Call us at 1-401-277-7484 and leave a message, or e-mail:

moneyline@projo.com

Whether you phone in or e-mail your question, please be sure to include your name, home town and home phone in case we need to reach you. Sorry, no personal replies; as many questions and issues as possible will appear here.